NOBTS Women

Note from Dr. Emily Dean: Want to get serious about living healthy for the glory of God? Check out this week’s blog post as one of our NOBTS student wives, Jessica Parnell,shares with us about her journey to healthful living through taking a Ministry Wives class.

Let me just say that I am absolutely no expert in the nutrition area of knowledge. When I started Gods Woven Truth, I committed to share what I was learning in my Minister’s Wife Class and this so happened to be the class that I had to take this semester. So that being said please keep in mind I am only going to share what speaks out to me during this semester. Most of this post will be more the author Patricia Hart Terry, than my own words. But I hope that you will find it educational and eye-opening to the way our country and families have changed.

In my text-book Made for Paradise, Patricia Hart Terry states, “since the 1970s, Americans have been eating more (calories in) and moving less (calories out). The World Health Organization calls obesity a global epidemic. Children are leading the way in obesity as they shun traditional healthy foods for fast/processed food and sugary drinks. In addition to eating unhealthy foods, these populations are more sedentary than ever before. TV and video games are also limiting traditional physical activity. More women are working, so those traditionally responsible for cooking the family’s full lunch, which is central to that ritual, are too busy to cook and are also eating on the go.”

I think so many of us including myself have forgotten what it means to take care of the bodies that God has given to us. I truly believe one of the culprits is lack of time and always being in a rush. When we are always in a rush we do not have the time to prepare our food the way that God has intended us to. Made For Paradise has revealed to me that Americans have become the “RIGHT NOW” and “SHOW ME THE MONEY” generation. Even our crops don’t grow fast enough to meet our standards, to where farmers are putting fertilizers and pesticides on our food and injections in our animals to increase production, which in turn has contributed to a great rise in the incidence of cancers in the United States.

This brings me to my next point, well I should say Patricia’s next point, “Should we be surprised that the nutrients we need for healthy bodies (that God made) come from natural foods (that God made)?”Reading this book has given me insight that God has given us all the food that we need when He created the earth. God has given us 24 hours in a day to accomplish everything that we need to accomplish. We as Americans have over committed ourselves, families, and marriages to other things that we think are more important. The fact is we wouldn’t be able to do any of these “other” things without our healthy bodies in the first place. God provided the healthy food to energize our bodies in a healthy way. In the beginning God provided animals for protein, fruits and vegetables for our vitamins, water to keep us hydrated, and rest to keep us rested. Why should it be any different now? God has designed each of our bodies for the nutrients that He provided us in the first place! Last time I checked the Bible, I haven’t yet found a fast food restaurant.

So I found myself wondering what is it that I personally can take from the few chapters that I have read this week? The first one is, I need to slow down. I need to take the time to prepare healthy meals in a busy world. I also need to be aware of what my family and I are eating. Secondly, I need to take advantage of our farmers market, begin to choose more locally grown food, (which is next to impossible in Las Vegas.) Thirdly, get out of the house and off the couch and burn the energy that my body is taking in from the natural foods that God has provided for me.

In closing, nothing we eat or do on this earth will change our destiny. The Bible tells us in James that our life is just a vapor here today gone tomorrow. We can focus on eating right, working out and staying healthy our entire lives, but last time I checked none of us make it out alive. Our life comes with all kinds of decisions, what are we going to eat? What are we going to wear? Who are we going to marry? What college? What house? What car? ETC……. (Which by the way all those things are temporary.) But there is one important decision in life that can last for eternity and that is the decision of following Jesus Christ. The Bible tell us, that “if we declare with our mouths, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we WILL be saved.” This is a decision that will last for eternity not just for a season. Jesus also tells us that there is only but one way to heaven, and that’s through Jesus alone. Jesus tell us in John 14:6 “That He is the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him.” There is no other way to heaven. There is no other door. Jesus is THE WAY and the ONLY WAY to heaven, but it also comes with the decision of committing our lives to Him and repenting from our sins, that HE will cover us in righteousness. Maybe you have a loved one that is already in heaven, do you know for certain that you will without a doubt be joining them when your time ends on this earth? You can know for certain, if you put your faith and trust in Jesus today.

I hope you’ll take this to heart and meditate on the very last paragraph. Think about where you’re at on this earth and what life has brought your way. Could it be that God is trying to get your attention?